Sri Dilip Kumar Bose was born on 14th August 1937 in the eastern part of undivided Bengal. It was not a flowerbed offered to him in the childhood. Adding to the misery, the menace of the 'partition' of Bengal made him a refugee in his boyhood. He was debarred from formal education too. But nothing could stop him learning photography.

His excellent sense of aesthetics earned the honour of AFIAP by the FIAP in 1970. In the year 1971, he along with other photo-enthusiasts founded Foto Unit with the vision of propagating the art of photography in India.